Motorists stranded in jam
Mumbaikars, who were travelling southwards, were severely inconvenienced and had to face bumper-to-bumper traffic, as all flyovers in city limits were out of bounds for motorists to make way for emergency vehicles.
“Soon after the fire broke out, the traffic at Colaba was not allowed to move anywhere. To have unobstructed movement of emergency traffic, all the flyovers between Mantralaya and Sion were made inaccessible to motorists,” said a traffic police officer.
As a result, there was a terrible traffic situation below the flyovers during the peak hour. “I was travelling towards south Mumbai from Andheri. There was bad traffic all along. Later, I saw that there is a traffic diversion for JJ Flyover and had to go via Grant Road,” said Madhav Jadhav, a motorist.
Although by 8 pm these flyovers were reopened for Mumbaikars, the traffic situation remained bad.
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‘People misbehave even in tragedy’
Age correspondent
Mumbai, June 21
Even as the Mantralaya was blazing, the police officers had a tough time controlling the onlookers, who had descended there to see the fire in hordes. People from the nearby areas also clamoured to catch a glimpse of the blaze, forcing the police to cordon off the surroundings to felicitate smooth movement of fire vehicles. The BEST also diverted the buses plying on the Mantralaya route.
On the other hand, when fire officials attempted to use the fire hydrant to douse the fire, some of the onlookers jumped in to wash their hands and legs at the sight of water. “This is how people behave even if there is a tragedy unfolding in front of their eyes. It has became an arduous task just to control the bystanders, who have came here just to watch and have fun,” said a policeman.
Hundreds of Mantralaya employees and other visitors evacuated their offices just in time after the fire started.
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